Winter Winds
by Twilit Guardian
Summary: One-shot of Link and Midna as they climb Snowpeak. Everything's going fine on their quest till they meet the local wildlife. LinkxMidna. Bad at descriptions and genre. Rated T for violence.


Disclaimer: I don't own Legend of Zelda. What else is new?

**Winter Winds**

The wind blew harsh and it blew cold on the mountain of Snowpeak. So much so that the only vegetation was a couple of trees that were few and far between. The one place they grew in any remote abundance was in a small 'forest' on the way down the path to the old mansion. The wildlife consists of only White Wolfos and Ice-Keese. The only 'people' of any variety are the occasional Yeti, and even they are few in this desolate place.

Of course, all that only accounts for normal days, and today is anything but. Twilight had not long ago pervaded this Realm of Light, enveloping Snowpeak and the entirety of the Hylian Realm, only to be expelled by the Hero and, by some strange design, a Twili. The pair now sought the Shards of the Mirror of Twilight, which had been shattered by Zant, the 'King of Shadows'.

Since nothing is ever easy, especially not for a Legendary Hero, fate had deemed that the next Shard be hidden at the top of this god-forsaken mountain, to which Link and Midna are currently climbing.

"Ugh. Are we there yet? Hurry up!" Midna said, slightly irritable. The bitingly frigid winds of Snowpeak did not sit well with her.

_If you think you could get us there faster, why don't _you_ carry _me _up the mountain?_ Link thought to her angrily. To him Snowpeak brought to mind the saying 'when hell freezes over' because this place seemed to be just that. Hell. Frozen over. It made the fiery, boiling depths of the Goron Mines look inviting.

"You're kidding! With how much you weigh, my chubby wolf? I'd be crushed!" Midna laughed and flashed her signature smirk.

_Muscle weighs more than fat. _Link countered.

"Yeah, yeah. And fat weighs less than muscle… 'Cept when you've got a lot."

And so they continued. Each responding to the other's jibes with one of their own. All in good fun, for they had long ago grown to enjoy each other's company. Recently, it seemed, their relationship had escalated beyond friendship, though neither would admit it to the other for fear that their feelings were unrequited.

Besides, arguing helped keep out the cold.

"Oh, just shut up and run, lazy wolf." Midna said, ending the matter.

If wolves could smile Link would have, but since they can't he kept running, though at a slightly faster pace.

They continued on in silence, both focusing on staying warm. Then, maybe a half hour later, Link heard a noise. Not a loud, blaring sound, but the soft crunch of snow as it's tread on, something Link wouldn't have noticed if he were in his Hylian form. His ears perked and he tensed, letting out a low, threatening growl. He glanced from side to side, ready for anything. Anything_._

Midna leaned down on Link's back and whispered, "What's wrong, Link? Sense something?"

_Heard a noise. Could be nothing._

"Better to assume it's something." Midna replied, readying a small ball of magic.

They waited, unmoving, neither daring to make a sound. A minute passed, it felt more like an hour. Two minutes, still nothing. Three minutes, how long could this go on? Four, maybe it was nothing. Five minutes, an enemy would have attacked by now. Six, the only sound was the whipping of the wind. Seven, Link didn't know how much more he could take. Eight minutes, the tension mounted. Nine, complete silence, even the wind ceased howling. Ten minutes, Link glanced up at Midna. She nodded hesitantly and both relaxed.

"You sure you heard something?" Midna asked.

_Maybe not. _Link responded. _We've been through a lot lately. Perhaps I'm just seeing enemies where there are none. Probably just need to relax a bit._

"Right… We'll take a break after we find this Shard, alright?"

_Yeah, okay. C'mon we better get going. _Link answered.

It was then that the Wolfos chose to strike. It had been waiting, inanimate, with a predator's instincts as its prey, wide-eyed and nervous, searched for it. The Wolfos bit into Link's hind leg, pulling him to the ground and knocking Midna from his back. Link yelped and attempted to bite back, but the Wolfos had already let go and was howling for back up. Nine Wolfos popped out of the snow around Link and Midna.

Eight, including the original, moved in on Link, who had regained his feet. The remaining two slowly circled Midna, she had landed a few feet away and she too was back on her feet. She had another ball of magic forming in her hands.

One of the eight, young and eager, leapt at Link. He sidestepped and countered by ripping the Wolfos' throat out. Two more jumped out. Link moved out of the way and they crashed head on with each other.

The next Wolfos moved in slowly. Link watched it carefully as they circled one another. The Wolfos lunged, Link back flipped away. Then, he charged the Wolfos, pushing it to the ground. He grabbed it by its tail and hurled it into a tree. The Wolfos collapsed, unmoving. Three more moved in to replace it. Link easily dispatched them with a spin attack.

"Link! Help!" Midna yelled.

Link turned to her. Midna had managed to take one of her Wolfos down, its corpse rested a few feet from her. The other had knocked her onto her back. She had crawled, trying to escape, but was now at the edge of a cliff. She had nowhere to run. The Wolfos approached, fangs bared in triumph.

Link started to run to Midna's aid, but in his worry for her he had forgotten _his _remaining Wolfos. It made its presence known by jumping at Link and latching onto his back refusing to let go. Link cried out, but kept running.

It would be to no avail. With the Wolfos slowing him down Link would never reach Midna in time. He needed a plan. What could he do? Link noticed a tree up ahead. He changed his course, gathering as much speed as he could muster and threw himself at it side-first. The Wolfos had no time to escape and its skull was effectively crushed between the tree and Link.

Link turned back to Midna. The final Wolfos was drawing ever closer. Link ran full speed at them.

He was twelve feet away, almost close enough to jump when it happened.

The Wolfos leapt at Midna. However, it misjudged its jump and sent both itself and Midna careening over the edge.

_No! _Link shouted mentally.

After what felt like an eternity he reached the edge and looked down. Neither Midna nor the Wolfos were visible through the flurries of snow raging below.

Link howled in rage and sadness. _MIIDNAAA!_

_

The first thing Midna was aware of when she woke up was the freezing cold. The next was pain; pain _everywhere_.

At first she didn't understand why she was in pain. Had sparring or magic practice gone wrong? No, that couldn't be it. It didn't explain the cold. The consuming, bone-chilling cold. The Palace was was always slightly cool, but never cold enough that it seemed to freeze the blood in her veins. Nowhere in the Twilight was this cold.

Midna groaned and sat up. She tried to look around, but was blinded by the extreme brightness of the sun reflecting on the snow. Snow? Also not something you typically saw in the Twilight Realm.

She blinked until her sight returned. Midna gazed at her surroundings and couldn't help but be baffled. Absolutely nowhere in her Realm looked like this.

She continued to examine her location. For a long while she saw nothing that would help her figure out where in the name of Eternal Darkness she was. Then she noticed something, furry against the sharp edges of the mountain.

It was the Wolfos, its pure, white coat nearly invisible against the snow. In truth Midna only noticed its broken body now because of a small trickle of blood leaking from its mouth, the only color in this world of white.

As Midna looked upon the Wolfos, her memories returned. She sighed, how was she going to get out of this mess? And just how, exactly, was she supposed to find Link? She wouldn't be able to float back up the cliff; the fall had taken too much out of her.

"Looks like I'm doin' this the old fashion way." Midna said and set off walking, keeping to the edge of the rock face, looking for a way up.

_

Link was running. He had to find a way down. He needed to find Midna. Link didn't care how far down that cliff went, how long it took to find her, or how slim her chances for survival were. He would find her. Alive. Midna was far too tough to just lie down and die, there was no way she hadn't survived.

Unless there was.

_Don't think like that, you fool. She's alive; she has to be. _Link told himself, for what was the point of going on without her?

Link sped up.

_

Midna slumped against a rock, exhausted. She didn't know how long she had been walking and the sky was of no help. The cloud cover prevented her from using the sun's position to tell the time, as Link had taught her. If the sun was even up. In any case it felt as though she'd been walking her entire life.

The only upside to all of this was that she didn't hurt anymore. She didn't feel much of anything anymore. Except an extreme desire to sleep. The one thing she couldn't do, and if she stayed still much longer the one thing she would do.

Midna slowly closed her eyes and pushed herself off the stone. She staggered a few steps before falling to her knees. She tried to get to her feet, but only succeeded in falling flat on her face.

She didn't have the strength to sit up, but every instinct urged her to do so. If she didn't she would die. And besides, she had too much to do to stop now. She had to find Link, get the Shards of the Mirror, stop Zant, and save the Twilight Realm. Maybe even save Hyrule, while she was at it.

She had far too much to do to allow herself to die now. And so much left to say.

She had never told Link how she really felt about him.

And as she lay there in the snow, exhaustion overpowering her will, she knew she never would.

_

Link was almost there. He had almost found her.

He had, after half an hour of searching, found a series of ledges heading down the cliff. Link had jumped down outcropping after another, as he usually did with Midna.

After that it had been all too easy to find where Midna had fallen; he could smell the Wolfos' blood.

It was too late to follow her footprints; the never-ending snow had covered them all within mere minutes of their creation. It was not, however, too late to follow her scent, faint though it was.

It was growing stronger now. Link was close. He prayed to the Goddesses he wasn't she was still all right.

Minutes ticked by and Midna's scent trail grew stronger and stronger with each step, until finally it stopped.

Link looked around, confused. This didn't make any sense! Her scent trail ended here so where was she?

_Unless..._

Link looked more closely. Searching the ground until… Yes! There it was! A bump no more than an inch high a couple feet away from where he stood.

Link quickly trotted over to it and began to dig, fast but gentle. A minute or so later he had unearthed what he had both hoped and dreaded to find.

Midna.

She was pale and cold to the touch, but she was breathing. She was alive. Barely.

Link swiftly used the Master Sword to transform. He removed his tunic and wrapped it around Midna. He then carried her to a cave he had seen not too far back.

Once there he built a small fire and used Zant's magic to transform back. He gently lifted Midna's prone form and placed her near the flames. He wrapped himself around her.

Link had decided to stay awake and keep watch, but the day's events had tired him out and he soon fell asleep.

_

Midna awoke with a start to find herself engulfed in a sea of fur and warmth.

Link.

So her Hero had rescued her after all.

Idiot. He shouldn't have wasted time on her. He should have kept going and retrieved the next Shard.

Link should have continued on their quest, but Midna was glad he hadn't.

"Thank you, my wolf." Midna said. She considered waking him, but quickly decided against it.

After all that had happened today the poor guy deserved a break, and she had promised to give him one, even if it was a little sooner than she had planned.

Besides, she quite enjoyed the feeling of having Link so close to her. His strength and warmth…

Midna smiled to herself and cuddled deeper into his fur, placing her tiny hand on his somewhat large paw.

"Good night, my love." She whispered softly.

_

Night turned to day, a change noted only on Snowpeak with a slight change in light. Though, the change goes unnoticed by most it was enough to rouse Link's finely tuned warrior's senses.

He glanced around the interior of the cave, scolding himself for falling asleep while on watch. The fire had almost died out, but other than that the cave was precisely as he left it. Excluding Midna, that is.

She wasn't in the position that he had placed her. She was snuggled up to him, her hand on his paw.

Link smiled inwardly.

He knew he should wake her and though he would normally do so vocally with a bark or growl, today he took a different approach. He licked her cheek. He wasn't sure what exactly possessed him to do it, but it just seemed right. And it got the job done.

Midna sat up and blinked sleepily, peering groggily around the cave.

_Rise and_ _shine, Mid. How're you feeling?_

She rubbed her eyes and looked at him, still half asleep. "Huh? Oh. Fine, Link. What's up?"

_Nothing. I just figured you'd want to get going._ Link paused before adding, concerned,_ That is, if you're up to it._

She was now fully awake and on hearing this she smirked, a good sign that she was feeling back to her old self.

"Aren't I always?"

Link didn't respond, but instead licked her cheek again.

Shocked, Midna stared at him her mouth slightly agape.

_Shall we then? _Link asked, turning towards the exit.

Midna seemed to recover partially from her shock as he said this, and nodded still staring though she had managed to close her mouth. She hopped nimbly onto Link's back and together they continued on their quest to reassemble the Mirror and save both of their Realms.

_

**Author's Note: **Well, I hope it was as much fun to read as it was to write.

Also I'd like to name **_Midna3452 _**as Co-Author for all her help, awesome ideas, and advice. Can't thank you enough.

Be seein' ya. Read and Review. Don't mind flames.


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